This 11-night Cruise is the Ultimate European Adventure
On a luxury Mediterranean cruise studded with highlights, Kendall Hill sets out in search of surprises.
Of all the things one might expect on a jolly 10-night cruise from Venice to Athens, communing with an Iraqi nun amid the ruins of ancient Ephesus in Türkiye is likely not among them. I bump into Sister Huda Shito, prioress of the Dominican Sisters of Saint Catherine of Siena, in front of the tiered façade of the Library of Celsus where she and her fellow nuns have just been posing for photos. Chatting in the shade of a first-century arch, she tells me they are midway through a miracle-finding mission to support the canonisation of seven members of their congregation and doing some sightseeing on the side. The striking image of them swarming over the grand monument, their white habits trailing behind them, had not been on my European cruise bingo card.
Nor was the chain-smoking cabbie called Rambo who chauffeurs me to and from Drepanos Beach in the northern Greek port city of Igoumenitsa, where I spend a sun-drenched afternoon with friends swimming, eating octopus and ordering carafes of the refreshing local white wine. Nor a freestyle food tour in Istanbul through the tasty Kadiköy quarter before spending an afternoon hopelessly but pleasantly lost in the leafy streets of the Asian shore.
All of which made quite a contrast to the languid days of lobster and champagne aboard Seven Seas Grandeur. The newest and most opulent of Regent Seven Seas Cruises’ three Explorer-class vessels, the 372-suite Grandeur is on its maiden season in the Mediterranean. The passenger and crew sizes (744 and 548, respectively) match those of sister ships Splendor and Explorer but there are differences both subtle (menu items) and bold, such as décor – notably Grandeur’s 1600-piece art collection that includes a Fabergé egg and a 12-metre tapestry by Brazilian artist Walter Goldfarb that hangs in the atrium. (Explore them all via the digital art tour on the ship’s app.)
But back to the basics. Our itinerary is a greatest-hits-of-the-Med affair that starts in Venice, visits A-list ports such as Santorini, Montenegro and Istanbul, and ends in Athens 11 days later. Magic moments include sliding into Montenegro’s stunning Bay of Kotor during a dramatic thunderstorm and waking in the middle of Santorini’s caldera to gaze up at a 300-metre wall of volcanic rock topped with whimsical whitewashed villages.
For the mildly adventurous there are memories to be made, too, in the lesser-known destinations in an otherwise killer Med itinerary; that perfect beach day in Igoumenitsa being a case in point. And at Ancona on Italy’s Adriatic Coast, I wander quiet late-May streets admiring ornate palaces, Romanesque churches and an ancient Roman amphitheatre with only trilling blackbirds for company. Later, I settle in at a small bar serving superb plates of housemade trofie pasta with roasted eggplant and guanciale plus cacio e pepe spaghetti, along with a glass or two of passerina, a typical white drop from Le Marche region. Perfetto.
A blue-ribbon itinerary deserves a shipboard experience to match and it is, genuinely, a treat to return to Grandeur each day knowing an entire ecosystem of pleasure awaits. After freshening up in the marble-lined bathroom of my spanking 43-square-metre suite, dressing in the walk-in wardrobe and grabbing something from the minibar (stocked to guests’ personal tastes at no extra cost) to sip on the balcony as we depart one charmed destination for the next, there will inevitably be a pre-dinner gathering somewhere. Perhaps at the pool bar or in a whirlpool on the spa deck as the world glides by; maybe in the Meridian or Grandeur lounges for cocktails, canapés and live music, or the Observation Lounge for 270-degree panoramas.
Afterwards, there’s dinner in one of seven restaurants, ranging from elegant French fine-diner Chartreuse to the glossily handsome steakhouse, Prime 7 and pan-Asian Pacific Rim (where you can feast on the likes of Peking duck and watermelon salad). These specialty restaurants book out quickly but walk-ins are always welcome at Sette Mari – where the classic Italian menu is best enjoyed on the aft deck at sunset – and in the main dining room, Compass Rose, where the comprehensive menu offers continental dishes and daily specials that might run to pasta with clams in champagne sauce or Singapore noodles. The drinks flow freely, always.
Thankfully, given the levels of onboard indulgence, there is a decent gym (and spa) where passengers can pound the treadmill as hazy Aegean islands appear on the horizon.
Whether working out, lazing on the pool deck or getting social in restaurants, there’s a camaraderie among the multigen crowd, which ranges from infants to the infirm, and making friends is not difficult when there’s an open bar. (Laundry, all meals, drinks and a large roster of excursions – from San Marino day trips to hiking an active volcano – are included in the fare.)
My travelling companion, a never-cruiser till now, sums up the shipside situation best on day three when I open our curtains to a gorgeous Greek morning. “God, I feel like a billionaire!” she cries. “I never have to worry about how much anything costs and every day I wake up in another beautiful location…”
Her only wish on this trip was to dive off rocks into the sea, a dream realised on our last day, at Lesbos. We take an early tender into port and hike through pine forests to reach the hilltop Mytilene Castle. Walking through the deserted 14th-century ruins perfumed with wild fennel and dotted with blood-red poppies, we catch a glimpse through the castle’s stone archways of a couple swimming in the sea. Taking that as our cue, we clamber down to a rocky cove with water so clear it’s like viewing the pebbled seabed through a magnifying glass.
As luck would have it, there’s a submerged rock platform carpeted in moss that we can use as a diving board to plunge into the Aegean. And so we do. Again and again and again.
Cruising. Honestly, it’s what you make of it.
